Grand old folks

When friends gather and reminisce of the Carcar of our old times, the discussion invariably fast forwards to the past–and the grand old folks we’re still privileged to have around us–and about their old times. Imagine my father was 78 when he died 5 years ago already, and yet his high school English teacher is still very much around–Mrs. Cecilia Alfafara-Florido. And my mother died a year ago at 80 and her St. Catherine’s teacher’s (and cousin) memory is still sharper than many of ours–Mrs. Pilar Sandiego-Lopez. I can’t imagine: Mrs Lopez is 39 years old in the Senior Citizens program!

Except for Mrs Cong and the attorney Barcenilla, who both now reside in the US, all the other grand folks live in either Carcar or Cebu City.

My friends don’t want to grow too old to when people you love aren’t there anymore. But it always brings an impish grin on our faces when somebody butts in that people you hate, and people who hate you, are no longer there, too.

Like, in those glory days of Carcar, I’m certain our nonagenarians we’ve mentioned above were taught to respect their elders. We should strive to follow them in that regard–respecting one’s elders while growing old–because (to paraphrase George Burns) we too would want to reach an age in years when there’s nobody around we should be respecting anymore.